A blog used for multiple classes and purposes during my undergraduate career.

Woops, it’s been almost three weeks since I first published a blog update on my current internship.

Still working at the Bessemer Historical Society/ CF&I Archives as an intern. Still really liking it.

So far I’ve really only been working on photos, but those are what have caught my attention and I really want to try and do their photographic collection some good if I can.

Last week I was given an introduction on how to scan maps. It is looking like tomorrow we are going to tackle the map room and attempt to update it. The plan at the moment is to figure a way to get internet to the computer down there so we don’t have to use jump drives to transfer files. Along with that deciding on an organization system and processing system for the maps within our collection, and possibly even creating new work spaces down there in order to make it more accessible.

We’re going to try to bring the map room back into the twenty-first century, wish us luck.

So, in order to get the credits for my fall internship this semester I need to blog occasionally.

Adjusting to this semester after this summer has been difficult, so I’ve been late on my first blog. I’m trying, I promise.

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So, this fall I am interning at the Bessemer Historical Society/ CF&I Archives in Pueblo, Colorado. This internship is nice because it goes along with my last internship which was at the Archives of American Art with the Smithsonian in Washington D.C.

I’m really enjoying this internship so far. I haven’t learned too many tasks or new skills, but I’ve been kept busy and had interesting experiences so far. So I’m very glad for that.

So far I’ve learned to scan negatives, lantern slides, and of course photos and to catalog them into the Past Perfect program. There is an enormous amount of photos that need to be scanned, organized, cataloged and filed correctly. So I could do this for the rest of the semester if I had to and I wouldn’t run out of things to do which is really nice. I like to be kept busy.

I’ve also of course, been given the grand tour of the building we are and where the archives are mainly located. There are some really interesting molds, maps, ledgers, and a lot of things that have yet to be gone through. I certainly won’t run out of things to do here.

I was given a real project to work on last week, which is to locate, scan, and make available photos which pertain to a movie being made about CF&I. The people making the movie have an extensive list of photos to try and locate for them, and I will be doing my best to find as many as I can for them.

Well, its the last day of my short internship with the Archives of American Art. It is a bitter sweet experience.

Yesterday one of my supervisors, Susan Cary, took me out to lunch at the restaurant next to our building. It’s called “BOE”. First off, the lunch was great, Susan is great, and I have a great time. The restaurant was just a little strange, and we couldn’t stop laughing at the strangeness of the place. The restaurant is decorated like some sort of chic cabin, that for some reason has white chiffon curtains and bright purple carpet. And for some reason there was a column covered in metal chains.

The food was good though haha. But it was definitely a confusingly decorated place.

Today, my other supervisor took me to lunch at Five Guys, and we had a really good time as well. I’ll miss these two ladies, they’ve been incredibly kind and helpful while I’ve been here. (Marisa, keeps trying to convince me to stay haha)

I’ll miss this place and the people within it, but I’m also excited to spend some time at home.

Either way, this has been an incredible experience and opportunity. I’m extremely grateful to everyone that helped make this happen

Our last weekend here in DC was a pretty good weekend. I made it to the Library of Congress, the Capitol building, and picked up the last few souvenirs I was wanting.

On Sunday most of us went out to the Pentagon (even though it was closed), and visited the 9/11 memorial that they have there. Honestly, its one of the most beautiful memorials I’ve seen. The sheer amount of planning and thought put into it is incredible, and the execution is perfect. I highly recommend finding the time to visit it given the chance. Afterwards we wound up at Arlington National Cemetery. It was hot, humid, and a lot of walking, but overall worth the effort to go through some of it. Though, I did find it a bit disturbing that all of the tourists were taking photos of the graves. Seems strange, and morbid to me. I don’t know, maybe I’m being a bit oversensitive. When I die, I don’t want strangers taking selfies with my grave haha.

Lastly, we made our way to one of my favorite places I’ve been to here in DC, Gravelly Point. At Gravelly Point you get to watch planes land at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in close proximity. The planes get ridiculously close, and you can feel the engines above you. I really liked it, and definitely won’t forget that experience.

Now I’m just dealing with my sunburn from the weekend, and impatiently anticipating returning home. With the end being so near, it makes it hard to not feel homesick and a yearning for familiar faces.

I’ll make the best of this last week though. I need to go out with a great impression. 🙂

Well its the end of week 3 of this internship. I’m still loving it, and getting more comfortable with Washington DC.

My bosses and I ended up accidentally going to lunch at the same place the other day and they graciously paid for my food, and had me sit with them. They are such wonderful ladies, I only wish I was actually here longer. Marisa, my main supervisor really, has asked me a couple of times (jokingly and not) if there’s any way I can stay longer. If I didn’t have a family vacation planned immediately after the end of this adventure I would definitely consider trying to stay longer. Either way, it’s nice to know that I am appreciated here, even as an intern who can’t get into anything by herself haha.

We met with Dr. Rees on Monday for dinner at this Greek restaurant. I can’t for the life of me, remember what the restaurant is called. I want to say Zoro’s, or Zampano’s but both of those are characters from films haha. The food was really good, and it was nice to take a breather and be able to talk about everything etc etc.

This experience has been nice overall. Despite messing up my knee in “the Great Fall” as we’re all so kindly calling it, getting lost constantly, the humidity, and experiencing dorm life, I’ve had a a really great time. I’ve gained hands-on experience which has given me the direction I’ve needed to figure out what I want to do. Before this, I was going back and forth between Museum Studies or archival work as my career focus. My internship with the El Pueblo Museum gave me a bit of a taste of museum work, and educational programs. Now, this has given me hands on archival experience which I badly wanted. Thanks to this I now know that I would enjoy the process of archival work much more than museum studies. I get to actually handle artifacts, documents, important papers, correspondence, sketches, etc etc. It’s ridiculously cool and something I can see myself doing in the future.

Now if I can only decide what direction to go with my Master’s degree after I finish undergrad next year….. One life decision at a time I guess.

I believe for the weekend I will be exploring the Library of Congress. I picked up my own “Library Card” for the Library of Congress. Not because I want to check anything out, but because it’s just a cool thing to have. Though I didn’t actually get to explore the buildings and see much when I went to go do that. Other than that, I’m hoping to pick up some “Smithsonian” things, like a sweatshirt or something, before we leave. I’ll have to use someone else’s Smithsonian Badge BECAUSE three of us never got ours…. total bummer but oh well.

Then on Sunday I think the plan is to try and go to Arlington, possibly the Pentagon, Georgetown, and Gravelly Point to watch airplanes. I’m pretty set on the Gravelly Point idea myself, not so sure about the others. We’ll see.

Now that most of the immediate excitement of arriving and sort of living in Washington DC has dissipated, I can’t decide if I feel like I’ve been here forever or barely at all.

Nothing that relates to my internship or time in DC happened this weekend, as I flew back to Colorado for the weekend. I am exhausted.

I’m attending an orientation today in about an hour, then on Friday we are meeting with the Smithsonian Latino Center, weekend shenanigans, and then next Friday some sort of House of Representatives tour. Then I’ll be on my way home… sort of.

As far as the interning goes, I have gained my bearings, I know where stuff sort of is in the city of Washington DC, and I can easily do my own work here at the Archives. I’m still really enjoying what I am doing and who I am working with.

STILL NO BADGE. Which really stinks. I’m honestly not sure the rest of us will get our badges before this internship is over, which is quite the downer.

I’m trying to blog at LEAST once a week, but with the short time I’m here and the amount of stuff I want to do that’s becoming difficult. This last weekend was an adventure all on its own. It was full of sightseeing, museums, and unfortunate bike rides.

As for my internship I am still really liking it. Last week my two supervisors took me out to lunch (not sure if I already blogged about it), which was very nice of them. They seem to really like me, and I really like them.

On the badge situation, still no badge. Which seriously sucks. Terrin and Jose have theirs already, but Megan, Dianne, and I are still waiting to get ours. I really hope I get mine soon….

As for the work I’m doing here at the Archives of American Art, I am working with the registrars and research requests. For the research requests I am simply aiding people with inquiries they might have about certain documents within artist’s collections. That has been fun, I really feel like I’m getting to know some of these artist son a personal level haha. For the registrar part of my internship I am working on rehousing materials into more suitable containers, in order to make more room in our storage. I am also reorganizing, refoldering, and creating spacers to store the items in better conditions. I am really enjoying all aspects of this internship. I honestly think this is something I would like to have a career in.